Passion and Mindlessness
by IJuggler
Summary: Idyllic Kalos is steps away from bloody revolution. Can Lysandre convince the chosen one of the impending doom they all face? Is Serena's optimism enough? Calem finds himself drifting… the moon is beautiful tonight. Re-imagining the tale of Pokemon X Y.
1. Prologue

"Mom, can we stop here? Pleaaaase!" The young Calem begged his mother with his cutest face. Their pet Furfrou, Frou, had the same big wide eyes and he got treats by doing that.

The fancy purple tent the traveling family was passing by caught the young man's eye. He'd heard people could learn the future in these places. Wondered why so few bothered - wouldn't everyone want to know how life would be? Before, when he asked his mother she just smiled and said she didn't know.

Grace, Calem's mother, made her mind up when she saw the nearby ice cream parlour. "Alright dear. You go on in - your father and I will be just over here." She handed him a 500 Poké bill and he walked in alone.

Children grow up so fast, she thought. "He'll be getting his first Pokémon soon," she said to his father. He grunted and slid over her ice cream.

Inside the mysterious velvet curtains Calem came face-to-face with an old woman. His peripheral vision was filled with warped lines of misshapen jars, each filled with different ingredients or items that he'd never have the time to learn all about. The woman's face stole his attention though, for she matched so accurately his imaginations of a witch that Calem was suddenly scared to be here. Regardless, he sat down in the chair across the table from the woman. A round pig Pokémon slept on a soft couch behind her, and dark pink something floated out of its head.

The old woman's back was hunched over like a twisted tree trunk, Calem realized. "So you seek fortune, do you?"

Quashing his fears, Calem answered. "Yes ma'am."

Suddenly she cackled, a spitting laugh that startled the boy and woke the pig behind her. The pink ooze sucked back in momentarily. "People don't call me ma'am anymore, son. I'm just an old maid."

Calem didn't know how to respond. He was uncomfortable. Making eye contact and forcing a smile, he placed the note on the table.

The woman's quick motions showed an agility unfitting her apparent age. Swishing her hands out sideways, dragging her dark shawl out dramatically, she spoke lightly. "You will look into my crystal. Inside will be a future only you will know." She swiftly brought her hands together. "Future Sight!"

The pig's eyes shone in a colour Calem could not see, but could feel. Before he understood what was happening he was focused on the dark opaque ball on the table. Purple shroud that seemed at first impenetrable cleared slowly, and soon a man became visible. His features were too dark to see, but speech was apparently not to be disguised.

"When everything is on the line, you can only rely on yourself. No one will fight for you without compromise, and compromised ideals are tearing us apart.

"Kalos used to have an enormous natural cavern. They say it was so big, all the fae in the world lived inside it peacefully. But millennia ago, ancestral trainers began to abduct them - only fairies could defeat the strongest Pokémon, even back then. It was a different world then, and when all the fairies had been chased from their homes it didn't take long for the rest of the world to adapt. These cave-dwelling creatures were never meant to be used in our battles, but human will is the dominant force on this planet. Now, that native home is empty, and all but the most mindless of creatures avoid it. Even now the other-worldly impression of the fae lingers there.

"Don't think that we are better off for having these aliens among us. For all the good ruining their society did us, we cannot escape some retribution…"

Calem was so absorbed into the anonymous stranger that he'd forgotten altogether where he was. The whiplash of leaving that dark room with the garbled voice, and waking up in this hard chair across from the old woman, caused him to blink owlishly. For a few seconds the man's lips still moved inside the crystal ball, before the purple shroud covered him again. It was the same shade as the velvet tent.

At some point in that dream - what else could it be called? - the woman had taken his note from the table. "I hope you learnt something, sonny. Run off to your parents now," she said.

Calem was tempted to ask about the crystal. How could it speak to him? But, he was too perturbed by the whole experience. He nodded, murmured thanks, and left out to the shining sun of daylight. They were moving to Vaniville Town tomorrow, and he didn't want to be left behind on their last day in the city.


	2. Chapter 1

"_We'll wait for you in the next town over! And you know what?! We're going to get… a Pokémon!"_

Shauna and Selena ran off after the girl's bizarre statement. They'd appointed themselves his official guides to Vaniville, the tiny community his family had just moved to. Calem couldn't help but miss the endless city's expansion, even faced with this… natural… beauty. Yes, there were trees and shrubbery and probably all kinds of critters living in the nearby forestry, but it felt like a step down somehow.

Patting his mother's old Rhyhorn in passing, he headed out the town's exit doors. A shock of green and brown filled his vision, alders and pine and other plants he never learnt the names of teemed up to the sides of the trimmed trail. It was a short walk to the next town, but Calem hadn't seen the scenic route when they came in the moving truck.

Aquacorde Town lay ahead. Shauna and Selena must've meant to meet him there. Calem had heard that it was a historic place, with monuments and statues and that sort of thing all over. He didn't care about the 'vast' history of the war with its heroes and villains and subplots and…

In person it was a different story. Just on approach, the fantastic brickwork, a rainbow of red and brown and limestone, was a colourful construction that fascinated Calem. The building and makeup of society always caught his fascination. His old friends would snicker when he commented on these things, so he usually appreciated them silently.

Two prominent buildings towered over the rest of the town from the entrance. They must've been built together, since they matched each other so much. One was for municipal functions and the other fronted a café.

In Kalos, the café was a ubiquitous mainstay. It could hardly be a town if a settlement didn't have a few. One to be civilized, two for competition, three for variety… there were streets in Lumiose of nothing but cafés. Calem didn't pay much attention to his parent's hushed discussions, but he knew a part of the reason why they'd moved so far from home had been to get away from 'commercialization'. Wasn't that just TV ads?

"Hey Calem! This way! Over here!"

He nearly jumped hearing the shouts. Craning his neck he could see a group of people, including the conspicuous girls he'd met before, sitting at a table further down the side streets of the town's second level. With nervousness fluttering in his stomach he walked over to the group.

"We were just talking about you! C'mon, have a seat." Shauna leaned forward over the glass table they'd sat around, sipping on ice water.

Feeling somewhat out-of-place Calem sit down in the open chair beside Selena. A slight breeze blew through the courtyard and Calem caught the faintest scent of peaches from the trainer's long blond hair. Up close he could see how blue her eyes were. Selena spoke up. "People don't usually move to this part of Kalos you know. We were all just about to leave on an adventure, things are so boring around here." A moment of realization crossed her face then. "Oh, let me introduce you. Everyone, this is Calem," she said.

Across the table the large boy with a foreign haircut spoke first. "Wow Shauna, I guess you were right. He dresses just like a pretty-boy!" He laughed and bumped the shoulder of the smaller boy beside him. A giggle found its way around the table. Even Calem smiled, though he felt self-conscious. "I'm Tierno, nice to meet you. Trev and I are here on the prof's orders," he said. When they shook hands Calem felt smooth calluses along the boy's large palms.

"I'm Trevor, I want to study Pokémon!" The boy with the shaggy red hair had fire in his eyes, but a limp handshake with cold fingers.

The others laughed again. "Trevor, you're so old-fashioned!" Shauna said.

Selena directed the conversation again. "Hey, does anyone want to order something to eat while we're here?"

Nobody else said anything, so Calem refrained as well. He hadn't forgotten; they were getting Pokémon.

"So I guess you all want to see these…" Tierno bent over to his side and retrieved a mysterious white bag. "Here they are!" With baited breath they watched him slowly bring out from the bag… two wrapped cheeseburgers. "Delicious!"

"Tierno!" Shauna squealed.

"Oh, I guess you wanted these too," he said, feigning indifference. Holding the burgers in one hand he swung a plastic bag up to the middle of the table. The hollow thud of the Poké balls on the table stole all the attention.

Calem wasn't sure how to feel about the atmosphere of it. Sure, he was getting his first Pokémon - he'd always wanted one, who hadn't? - but with new people around, in a place he'd never been in…

Maybe it wasn't so bad. Tierno was nice, and Trevor was smart and friendly. Shauna and Serena must've been good friends but they were willing to accept Calem, so he should try too.

"Can I pick first?" Calem's voice was scratchy at first from disuse.

"Of course!" And with flourish Selena released all three Pokémon from their balls to the ground. Once the light cleared, they all saw the three choices they had.

A blue frog crouched in place, slowly spitting a smokescreen of bubbles to cover it. Beside it stood a chipper-looking hedgehog with some kind of grass shoot coming from its head. The last was a delicate fox that curled its tail completely around itself.

Calem found it tough to decide. The hedgehog wasn't much appealing but the fox was adorable and the frog's bubbles were cute. He tried to leave survival tactics behind him; picking Pokémon just for their attributes was too cold.

"Hurryyy up! I want one too!" Shauna whined from beside Calem.

Setting his mind, Calem grabbed one of the Poké balls from Selena and returned his choice. "I'll take Fennekin," he said.

While Shauna and Selena were picking between the others, Trevor waved for Calem's attention. "You'll probably find this useful too," he said. "It's a Pokédex. I got one too. We'll probably be comparing, so you've got your work cut out for you."

"We're heading back to the lab now," Tierno said around a mouthful of burger. "See you when you catch up!"

The short redhead and the tall boy walked down to head across the famed bridge. Shauna, Selena and Calem didn't notice though; they were too busy looking at their Pokémon.

Fennekin loved the attention. Running his fingers through its mane gave it shivers, and it mewled adorably when he stopped. "Calem!" Shauna yelled suddenly. "You're going to be my first Pokémon battle opponent! Let's do this~!"

Apprehensive, Calem backed up on the brick road to make some space. "We can do this, right?"

"Sure, why not!"

The young woman's attitude was infectious enough. Taking a stance, Calem threw out his arm in a motion to his new Pokémon. "Fennekin, let's get ready to fight!"

Of course, the Pokémon wasn't aware of the gravity of the situation at hand. Fennekin yawned adorably and just swished its tail, staring at Calem.

"My turn!" Shauna shouted. "Froakie, tackle!"

For some reason her Pokemon was much more adept at listening. The web-footed frog charged forward, trailing bubbles, and crashed shoulder-first into the inattentive fox. Without instruction, it turned around, hissed, and began fighting with earnest.

The ensuing brawl was something Calem had never seen before. Usually trainer battles were brutal displays of discipline and practise. This was more like a slap fight; Fennekin's swiping claws were punishing the frog's lack of defense with rapid back-and-forth, but the bubbles the Froakie spewed must have been unpleasant for the fire-type to face. Soon enough, the frog fell back under the onslaught.

Meanwhile Calem was fairly certain he couldn't control the fox even if he wanted to, so he refrained from trying to give it advice. _So this is what being a trainer is like_, he thought.

"Froakie! You can do it! Use bubbles!" Immediately the scratched-up frog started spitting grossly, and a frothing stream of bubbles shot weakly through the air.

Even Calem, a first-time trainer, knew about general element principles in battles. But it was a trainer's discretion in applying those principles that made the difference. "Ember!" Desperately he hoped he wouldn't be ignored.

His fox's ears perked up. A long moment passed where nasty bubbles floated to his Pokémon, and it stood still with tail pointing straight up. Calem couldn't see exactly how - he was directly behind his Pokémon - but when he heard the fox's cry, he knew Fennekin had shot a mouthful of fire straight at the frog. It burned through the bubbles like tissue and smacked it right between its big yellow eyes, knocking Froakie completely over. "Froakie!" And the battle was over.

"You're so strong!" Shauna said after she'd returned her unconscious Pokémon.

"Well it was mostly Fennekin…" Calem said, looking down. The fox had a few scratches, but nothing a few minutes at a Pokémon Center wouldn't fix.

Another voice spoke up. "That was pretty good!" Calem's eyes widened and he spun around. A few feet away was a sharply-dressed young man wearing an all-red suit. His midriff was bared over a glinting belt buckle with some kind of plume design on it. Even his hair and glasses were red.

"Fight me next please!" And suddenly the man released a Pokémon - a Houndour.

Houndours were the kind of animal you'd find roaming city limits at night. They didn't travel in packs like their grown evolutions; they were so small and wild that they couldn't even live in groups well. Any trainer who could raise one must have strict discipline to even be able to teach them anything.

Fennekin was almost fresh, and that was both good and bad. She could fight an average untrained Pokémon, Froakie wasn't a problem, but she had almost no experience in battles. "Ah, well…"

"Houndour, tackle!"

Before Calem could think of a response the dog was ramming into his fox. Unlike when Froakie did the same thing before, this tackle packed serious punch. A pitiful mewl came from the fluffy Fennekin as it slid across the bricks. As if she were far away, Calem could hear Shauna gasp.

The dog wasn't even fazed by such a dangerous attack. It walked over to the fallen fox, and a scary growling sound came from its throat. "Now bite its tail!"

Saliva-coated teeth closed around Calem's Pokémon. It shrieked immediately and flailed its legs uselessly. The Houndour picked it up unbidden.

In his mind's eye Calem saw what would happen next; the dog would shake as hard as it could, ripping in the way that all wild animals without hands did. He wouldn't let that happen. He raised his Pokémon's ball and returned Fennekin with the red laser. He was just in time to save it from trauma, and the dark mutt shot him an evil glance before padding back to its owner.

"Good boy!" The red man said before returning him and facing Calem again. "You're not too bad for a kid. When you get better you should look into joining us. We're an elite group of people. All the best trainers are members of Team Flare, and we're only getting bigger. It's our goal to make the world a better place."

Calem had a dark frown. "You didn't have to beat me so badly…"

The man laughed in his face. "That's what Pokémon battling is all about! Listen, you'll understand when you train more. I won't take any money from you, you're obviously just a kid, but that's a big part of why people compete. Money's power, so being strong pays well."

"Pokémon aren't just tools! They're supposed to be our friends too!" Shauna interrupted.

The man smiled at them. It wasn't condescending, but it was hard to be sure of his emotions with his eyes being hidden behind goggles. "Whatever floats your boat missy." And, to Calem: "Don't forget, Team Flare. We're around." After his parting remark he stuck his hands into his tailored pockets and turned to walk away, towards downtown.

Calem was looking down at his shoes, simmering. Shauna spoke first. "We don't need his advice Calem. Let's go see what Selena's doing!"

Together Calem and Shauna walked back to the city outskirts. Selena was practising with her Pokémon, some kind of target practise for her Chespin to get more accurate with. "I've got to work hard if I want to be the champion one day!" she boasted. The strength of it was lost by her only Pokémon failing half the time to even hit the target tree with its quills, but her ambition was uplifting.

"I don't know what I'm going to do yet with my Pokémon. Do you have any plans Calem?" asked Shauna as the trio stood in the forest.

Calem looked down at his Poké ball, thinking. "I want to be the best trainer," he finally murmured.

Selena met his eyes and smiled fiercely. "Then I guess we'll be fighting for it. Good luck!"

Suddenly Shauna snapped her hands together. "Calem! Have you told your mom you're going on an adventure with us?! She'll be worried if you don't."

"Oh, right. I should go do that. Why don't we all meet here tomorrow? I have to pack still, too," Calem said.

Selena nodded. "Bright and early! I'll be training again tomorrow morning, so I'll know if you sleep in!"

Calem said his farewells and headed back to Vaniville. As expected, his mother and father were nothing but encouraging when he said he'd be going. They were always so forthright about their acceptance of his wishes. Sometimes he wished they weren't.

Later that night, when he was brushing Fennekin's fur after her meal, a certain thought kept swirling in his mind. Trainers dressed all in red with menacing Pokémon, who wanted nothing more than to crush everyone who didn't agree with them. "The world shouldn't be cruel like that," he told his half-asleep fox.


	3. Chapter 2

In a small red café at the heart of Kalos, a man sat stirring a cup of coffee. Something was missing. As more powder dissolved into his liquid he considered once more how he'd reached this point. The chattering of his assistants didn't bother him.

* * *

On the outskirts of Vaniville, Serena had made the clearing distinctly her own. Quills pointed out from almost every tree, and her camouflaged Chespin snored on the ground while she toyed with her Pokédex.

"How much do you know about training, then?" Serena asked the approaching boy. She'd been thinking about what he said, that he wanted to be the best.

"Good morning to you too," Calem said. He yawned, arching his back and stretching his arms. The Fennekin walking beside him ran over to Serena's Chespin and commenced to bother it incessantly with her bushy tail.

"That wasn't rhetorical you know. You must be a total beginner." A competitive gleam was in the blond girl's eye.

"I watch the League every year. My training school in Lumiose was a joke, though."

"Really? Why?" Serena picked up her sleeping Pokémon and the pair slowly started walking northward.

"It's made for the kids who just want to have a license for a Pokémon. We didn't even get lessons in making campfires, it was just basic Pokémon taming…"

"That's not so bad though. The routes are full of cabins and cheap motels for passing trainers."

Calem pursed his lips. "Yeah, I guess it's not needed. But isn't living off the land the soul of training? That's what Champion Steven used to say."

"Old Champions! So that's who got you into training?" Accusingly, Serena wagged a finger at Calem. "They lived in a different time. Back when that dinosaur travelled around he had to sleep in caves to avoid scary wild Pokémon! If you think we'll be travelling anywhere like that in Kalos you're crazy. All the paths between towns here are safe, there may be small or harmless Pokémon about but they're never any trouble. Kalos has the safest training circuit in the world!"

Calem was reminded of the Houndour that had nearly mutilated his Fennekin yesterday. "So it's up to the trainers to keep the Pokémon from getting out of hand?" He doubted that the man in red would've stopped his Pokémon from the attack it had prepared to unleash on his Fennekin.

Serena cocked her head and inquisitive blue eyes met his. Calem blushed. "Sorry for asking so many questions, you just seem to know about this stuff," he said.

"No worries. I guess I should've expected you to need a primer for this! If only Trevor were here, he always knows the answer. I think, in official battles like Gym Leader challenges, there's regulations on what kind of attacks you can use. Things wouldn't be fair if bigger Pokémon could just crush little ones, right? So they have to use things like bursts of flame or swipes with claws. I don't really know what isn't allowed, but it's the title holder's responsibility to inform challengers of those beforehand so it shouldn't be a problem!" Serena smiled, and Calem did too.

So it's only in official League battles that safety is assured, he thought to himself.

"It's good that you have so many questions though. When we see Tierno and Trevor at the lab - oh, right, those two guys from yesterday who brought the Pokémon, remember? - they'll be happy to help answer your questions. I'm a new trainer myself, though, so I don't really have that much experience." Her Chespin, apparently still sleeping, was curled up in her arms like a baby, tan fur blending into green quills atop his head. "Chester's still a baby, but he'll grow big soon. Hard practice makes Pokémon grow quickly, that's what the school here taught me."

Calem wanted to ask more about battling regulations but it sounded like Serena wasn't sure on them herself. "Just one more question before we get into town. You and I want to be Champions, but what does Shauna want to do with her Pokémon?" The brown-haired girl had been just as excited as either of them to get their first Pokémon, but she hadn't expressed a goal. He wanted to ask her herself, but since she was apparently waiting for them ahead he figured Serena would know.

The other trainer's smile froze for a moment before she responded. "It's good that you ask before we see her, actually. She used to want to be a Champion too, but her f-"

It was at this most inconvenient moment that a wild Pokémon disrupted their travel. Which was quickly turning into a dozen Pokémon.

From the high canopy of trees to their left enormous Pokémon were taking flight. Long green wings that resembled leaves flapped strongly and lifted brown-green bodies with elongated necks into the air. The wind generated by their group's flapping kicked up a gust along the trail and drowned out whatever Serena was going to say. The two trainers turned to watch as the enormous herbivores flew low above the treetops. Calem's jacket blew tight to his torso and he had a job holding his ground, no more than ten meters from the origin of the hidden Pokémon band's launch site.

Calem saw that Serena was speaking, though the wind was only now dying down enough to make out the words. "… I could catch one of those. Wouldn't they be awesome to battle with? But Tropius are so skittish, you'd have to chase them with another bird Pokémon."

She wants to catch one of those?! Calem silently wondered whether his companion had any fear at all.

"That was amazing!" Another voice interrupted from behind the trainers.

"Shauna?" Serena's voice had a strangled note in it. "Wh-where did you come from?"

"Hahaha! Did I scare you? Sorry!" The brunette had a way of turning anything into something to laugh about, Calem thought. "I was getting tired of waiting for you two. I thought, maybe you were still practicing and lost track of time! But I guess you were just scaring the local wildlife away! Haha!"

Even Calem couldn't stop a snort. Maybe their loud chatter did disturb those Tropius. Speaking of their conversation, Calem glanced over at Serena. She probably didn't want to explain whatever she was saying around Shauna, from the weird look on her face at the time.

"So Shauna, how's your Froakie? I hope it's alright…" Calem felt a bit guilty for getting his Pokémon to beat up his friend's.

"Oh, that? Don't worry about it. He just needed a good nights rest - look." Maximizing a poké ball she released its contents. In front of Calem the pale blue frog he'd seen the previous afternoon appeared. Where it had bruises and scratches after its battle was now all healed. "The Pokécenters are great places for recovering after battles! Even if it's with other trainers, they'll look after anyone's Pokémon and help them feel better. For just getting knocked out like Fro did, he was patched up in a jiffy."

Serena butted in. "Technology is amazing! Who knows if we would still have such a battling culture if Pokémon healed at normal rates?"

"Hundreds of years ago they didn't have most of that stuff. People could catch Pokémon with rudimentary poké balls made from apricorns but even without our healing ability they still waged battles…" Calem trailed off when he noticed the other two just staring at him blankly. "You know? The ancient war, the one from the legends?"

Serena pushed his shoulder jokingly. "Yeah, sure. But why do you know so much about it? I thought you were a beginner trainer," Serena teased.

Calem blushed again. "I like stories and fairy tales. My parents were always working, but they kept books around…"

"That's so sad!"

"No no," Calem opened his mouth and closed it again before changing the topic. "Are you ready to go to the next town now? Those Tropius must have disturbed everything around here." As he spoke the regular chirruping was resuming in the surrounding greenery.

"On to Santalune!" Shauna popped up between Serena and Calem and swung her hands in theirs, forcing them all to skip. Serena giggled and met Calem's eyes, and they silently agreed to talk it over later.

"We've still got to get through the forest you know…" Serena said to no one in particular.

* * *

I can hardly believe he's a first-time trainer, Serena found herself thinking. Her new neighbour - ex-new-neighbour, too - had handily beaten his way across the assorted trainer maze that the Santalune forest kept.

"Was kinda slow I thought. Wish I had one of these earlier, you know?" Calem held up the Pokédex and Serena saw tiny lines of text going across the screen, evidence of the natural observation function.

She hadn't realized the book app was useful until she'd gotten her first badge already. "Look at you, mister bookworm!"

Internally she was struggling. Was this information she could share with him? It was Shauna's to tell after all. But, he would be wondering, about certain things. She had to keep the group going through, after all, as her grandfather reminded.

"It'll be a little bit until Shauna catches up I bet," Serena said as she sat back down against an oak trunk. "Might as well get comfy. Why don't you tell me about your training school?"

Calem looked annoyed that he had to stop reading for half a second. Then he realized how he would end up sharing that story anyway, and so started in.

"So we had a dozen Weepinbell come in one day, right…"


	4. Chapter 3

Inside the Pokécenter, Calem sleepily gazed off into the distance. He found himself longing to be back in the forest, even though he knew he didn't have time for backtracking. "Fancy meeting you here Calem!" A voice from behind startled the young trainer. He turned away from the red nurse's desk.

The big guy with the strange haircut, Tierno, was walking in. Beside him the twiggish form of Trevor was even smaller. Calem smiled wide. "Hey guys! What bring you here?"

The two responded in unison: "Clothes!" "Items!" Tierno's booming laugh even contrasted Trevor's giggling chuckle.

The redhead spoke up first afterwards. "But we could ask the same of you. Your Fennekin didn't look that tired when we saw it back in the forest." Trevor pushed his bright hair out of his eyes again and adjusted his glasses.

"Oh, yeah. One second, I'll show you." The other two Pokédex holders looked on curiously as he turned around and took something back from Nurse Joy. As he released his Pokémon Calem exclaimed, "Come on out, Flutter."

In the palm of the trainer's hand appeared a flower. Tierno's response exploded out. "You caught a flower? Blue's a nice colour and all, but…?" Tierno asked, scratching his head.

"No! Look closer Ti, it's a Flabébé." Trevor was right. Just atop the petals, dancing around a pistil was a tiny cherubic Pokémon. Long notched ears and the tiniest pointed nose gave it a cute, elfish face. "I haven't seen one of these yet. Did you find it in the fields before town? I can't imagine how you'd train it. Their diet would be pollen, I assume?"

Tierno flicked his inquisitive companion in the head and laughed loudly. "Let him speak and maybe he'll answer you."

Calem carefully brought the flower to the crown of his head and the other two watched as Flutter climbed into his messy hair. The first time he'd done this, the day before, it helped his clear his fuzzy mind, so he let his new Pokémon have free range up there. "Yeah, there's dozens of them all over the meadow. My parents always warned me to not run in their flowers, and gave me a different reason every time. But they're fine really."

Tierno cleared his throat. "Well, you nerds can enjoy yourselves over at the ball shop," he inclined his head to the counters at the back, "but I'm here to prep for dance lessons. I'll catch up to you both at the lab later!" The other two said farewell and both went opposite ways, Tierno to the costume-changing area.

Unbidden, Trevor spoke up. "He's always been going into dance classes. If it weren't for his appetite he'd have a form to shame all of us. But, what was it you were going to buy here at the 'mart? I've been sent out as a go-fer for the professor."

"Hmm. Some pokéballs wouldn't hurt. There's a gym in this town that I'll be going to, so a few potions maybe." Calem shrugged. "Mostly just, exploring."

While grabbing a few different bottles and boxes Calem didn't recognize, Trevor let out a low whistle. "You'll want a few antidotes too. But I won't spoil any more for you. Don't fall behind on your 'dex either, hey? Come meet us at the lab , next town north, tomorrow at noon. We're staying with the professor, but you can probably bunk in the Center here if you don't want to tent outside the city."

As he took his few items from the cashier and put them in his bag, Calem shared a small smile. "Thanks Trevor. I'll see you tomorrow, I suppose."

On the way out, Trevor couldn't help but notice that the Flabébé his friend caught was hanging off his ear. It looked like it was whispering to him, almost.

* * *

The paintings that lined the walls of the gym were distracting at first, but now Calem was engrossed with his battle with the photographer situated at the highest point of the gym. The well-lit web puzzle behind him had been an easy little riddle about weak points.

"Your determination is impressive, challenger. Seasoned trainers tend to see themselves invincible to strands of thread and have failed to come this far." Viola's tone took on some colour when she continued, deviating from her regular title-defence phrasing. "Your Pokémon will make an interesting show. You made it through the maze in record time. My lens will capture your expression as you fight the hardest yet!"

Niggling in the back of her mind was a faint question about the boy challenger's disinterested expression. Did he really not feel the hype of facing her? She wouldn't take it easy on him, even if he was just a first-timer. Maximizing a pokéball she prepared to begin the battle.

As the black and white-clad announcer stated the rules for the scattered stadium seating Calem continued pondering something that had been eating him all morning. Was Santalune a sustainable community? Spread across a couple miles it had a handful of cafés, though half of them doubled as convenience stores to the townsfolk. But the old-fashioned downtown was brick-laid like Aquacorde, except even more unfavourably to traffic with open public fountains and fields of flowers built over hills. Without cars the town was stunted in growth, doomed to never be bigger than its trainer school and gym could support. The nearby countryside was good agricultural land, and downtown probably hosted farmer markets, but those things are shipped to the richer Lumiose City in greater bulk. Maybe gyms were more useful than-

"Snap out of it, Calem!" the leader barked to him. In front of her was a puppy-sized Surskit, weaving silk into balls while it waited for an opponent.

"S-sorry… Go, Flutter!"

As his Pokémon's form appeared above a cerulean flower on the flattened square battlefield the trainer gave his head a shake. Now wasn't the time for idle thought. He would have to follow his battle plan that he'd made at the meadow that suddenly seemed so shaky. Trainers had been abusing gym themes for decades, and modern gyms were fighting that by countering with sneaky predictive teams for that. Modern trainers, as Calem recalled from his own schooling's lectures, must be ready to adapt to all possibilities.

The rules were two on two. Viola would stick solely with bug Pokémon. This alone was what Calem worked with when he spent the day getting a painful sunburn from drilling his Pokémon all day into dusk.

Once the flag was dropped Calem called out his first plan. "Use lucky chant!"

"Hit it with a web!" He heard, from the leader's battle-strict voice.

That was dangerous. One of those pebble-sized web balls would easily hold Flutter down. That would mean unable to battle, or KO.

The inaudible chanting ritual showed its end only by a strange light expanding across the flower. Calem wasn't close enough to see it, but he knew that a ball of otherworldly protection rested atop the open flower.

The web rocketed from the Surskit's mouth, boosted by a stream of pressurized water. This was the real danger of the small bug. With water it would drench any fire Pokémon that came for the challenge expecting an easy win.

The web came straight towards the flower like a guided missile with enough intent and force to paste a flower to the ground. But something miraculous happened instead. The atmosphere shifted violently, in some unseeable way, and instead of crushing root structures the web flew two inches to the right, sticking harmlessly to the dry dirt ground.

"That's unfortunate. Why don't we try again?" As Viola spoke her Surskit was lining up a second shot. There were five web balls beside it.

Calem signalled to his Pokémon with his hand. "I won't let you do that. Knock it down with razor leaf!"

A legion of leaves spun from the now-rustling flower and they intercepted the web's trajectory. The sharp projectiles continued into the Surskit, knocking it off its legs and getting a squeal from the spider. It curled its legs up and rolled away, refusing to fight.

The leader's camera sat on the ground beside her. She'd wanted a picture of their two Pokémon battling, but the counterattack prevented her from slowing down for the shot. "Not bad for a first round. But how will you deal with this? Go, Vivillon!"

"Come rest, Flutter." The cherubic Pokémon came up and pressed the storage button on the ball itself. Inside, it could take a well-deserved nap - spawning all those leaves took a lot of energy. "Glimmer, go!"

Calem's new Ralts was named Glimmer for how bright it was when he'd seen it in the darkness. The green hair blended into the undergrowth but the pink disc it sported in its head stole attention. Under stadium lighting it looked vanishingly small, but Calem knew it had the power to win.

His enemy took the initiative in the battle. Pointing at the green-headed psychic Viola commanded, "Blow it over with whirlwind!"

Calem's heart stopped for a moment. This was bad. His plan would fail at this rate.

Before he could think about why it might not work, he barked out a command to salvage the situation. "Teleport - underneath it!" His Ralts perked its head and vanished, and dust from the stage was whipping across where he was. The pink butterfly was blowing up a cloud of sandy dirt and leaves, and it blocked all sight of the two battling Pokémon from the trainers and crowd.

"That was a mistake, Calem. Your Ralts is in the worst of it now. You should give up - I'll call off my attack." Viola's confidence radiated from her upright posture and smug expression.

"Glimmer, follow the plan!" Calem shouted, ignoring her offer. Hopefully he would be heard inside that blowing windstorm. He couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer power it took to keep that wind going.

Viola frowned and called her own command to the two. "Use sleep powder!" Scuffling sounds could be heard, and the beating wings causing wind stopped being audible. Eventually a insectish squeak came from the settling dust.

Once it had settled down both trainers looked in. Both Pokémon were grounded. Calem was glad that his plan worked, even if it looked like his new Ralts wasn't moving.

Viola jogged forward to her Pokémon. With the camera she'd picked up earlier she took a few shots of the two Pokémon inside the arena before calling out to Calem. "You've won, challenger! Come forward to accept your badge."

Calem's attention was grabbed first by the audience. "YAAAY CALEM!" Two familiar faces were providing fanfare in the stands. Shauna was waving, while Serena clapped like a normal person. He shot them a thumbs-up before going to see Viola.

Up close, the gym leader wasn't nearly so intimidating. Though that might be just the effects of winning, Calem told himself. In a conversational tone that didn't cast across the stands she told him, "That was a good idea with the leaves. I'm surprised you didn't use your starter."

He scratched his nose before responding. "Fennekin gets a lot of training as it is. These two had good synergy though."

The blond photographer looked pensive for a moment and nodded. "Here's your badge. It'll let you (use HM blah blah blah). I hope you continue to collect more, and wish you the best of luck!"

As the young winner walked out with his chatty friends, Viola was reminded of another trainer who'd come through like that. She hadn't used her starter Pokémon either in her first gym battle, but now she ran a gym here, so it couldn't be that bad of an idea.

* * *

I suppose, it's no use to remember why I do some things.

Nobody asked Calem about how he avoided using his advantageous Pokémon, Fennekin, in the gym battle.

These things must not be important to others. I shouldn't waste my effort explaining myself to others. They wouldn't understand.

He spent his nights surrounded by his Pokémon. Running his hand through Fennekin's hair while Flutter did the same to his own and Glimmer curled up in the crook of his arm. When the night was dead he could relax. He didn't need to be an up-and-coming star trainer, or a mature son, or any of that.

Even if he didn't need it, thoughts of how to be those things swam in his head. Or, well, they used to.

* * *

The next day in Lumiose City was blistering-hot. Calem had gotten thoroughly lost on his way to meeting up with the others in the big city. "If it weren't for having your numbers I'd still be wandering. Thanks guys," he said to his friends again.

Tierno, Trevor, Shauna, and Serena had all gathered at the south Pokécenter to head off as a group for the lab. The only one not sitting in an armchair, Serena responded. "Maybe next time you can follow the signs and won't have to get us to drag you around, huh?"

Shauna made a face at the blonde. "Yeah, don't call her anymore, we can see she's little miss grumpy when she has to get out of bed before noon. We're just glad you made it, after we went different ways." She didn't ask why they'd split up; that was too meaningful of a question in the casual atmosphere.

Once Calem had healed his Pokémon the group left on their way. "It's not a long walk," Trevor explained to the three who'd never been, "but the city can be bustling." He looked over and was half-annoyed to see the trio still ogling the scenery.

Calem was recalling what he'd read from his Pokédex that morning as he walked into town. His thoughts were still fuzzy, likely from the heat. The city was hypermodern, built in only the last hundred years. While other towns had difficulty integrating the infrastructure required for cars and skyscrapers Lumiose was built specifically to take advantage of burgeoning technology. There were a dozen cafes on every main street; this was truly the epicentre of high culture for the country. Small trees lined the road, separating the vehicle section from the walkways they were moving on.

Hearing his name interrupted his pondering. "So Calem, you spent the night in a tent - for real?"

Conscious of the heavy camping gear he'd stored at the center, he nodded. "Parterre Way is pretty at night. Fireflies come out over the fountain." He couldn't find a way to say that he'd merely collapsed, dead-tired, after hours of training at the gym, and didn't bother setting up camp. "The fields of flowers are so comfortable in the summer, it's like lying on clouds."

Shauna giggled from the back. "You sure love flowers!"

The buzzing from earlier was even stronger in Calem's head now. Probing it distracted him from responding. It wasn't exactly painful, but it also wasn't buzzing. He couldn't describe it.

"Are you alright Calem? You seem out of it today." Shauna asked about him politely, which Calem took to mean it was something everyone noticed.

"Am I?" He hastily followed up, "It's probably just from sleeping outside after training. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Calem silently thanked Serena for changing the topic. "Maybe this is a weird question, but, did any of you meet a pair of trainers with Pokédex's on the way into town?"

The two trainers! Calem suddenly remembered meeting them, though it had only been a day before - how had he forgotten? "Now that you mention it, yeah." He spoke slowly, working out his words. "They were… curious, about Ralts and Flabébé, my new Pokémon. Did they make any sense to you?"

Serena made eye contact with Calem as the group split to pass a handful of rollerblading teens. "I assumed they were just crazy!"

Tierno spoke up. "When I came through last night I saw them too. They'd set up camp way off the path, and had a big pile of wild flowers right next to their fire. If it weren't so dark I would've gone and told them to be safe."

Calem was appalled. "They lit a fire in a meadow?"

"Yeah! It's the strangest thing."

The shortest member, Trevor, adjusted his glasses and spoke up. "They're probably researchers of some kind. If they had Pokédexes the professor must know them. We'll just ask him, when we get there - which won't be too long now."

Thankfully for Calem, his headache left during the walk. He was excited to finally meet the regional Pokémon professor, Sycamore, and learn about the Pokémon research that went on in his home country.


End file.
